Interview: Luxury Publishing Goes Digital

Luxury brands, retailers and products are starting to embrace social media as a means of marketing to luxury consumers online. Some luxury brands are even ahead of the game; building their own social networks.Digital media’s emerging prevalence to the fashion industry has made me contemplate the effects on more traditional mediums. Luxury brands are decreasing their print advertising budgets; because of this, there’s been a wave of publication closures and staffing cuts. Magazines such as Vogue and GQ have finally launched their own websites after being in business for so many years.In adapting to online marketing, publications have had to beef up and expand their publications’ online presences to remain viable in today’s digital economy. It made me think of LadyLux.com, a digital luxury magazine, which is a project we’ve just begun to work on.I interviewed LadyLux’s, founder and Chief Editrix, Elizabeth Wahler to gain deeper insight on the luxury market’s adaptation to online publishing. Elizabeth has taken her traditional publishing background and launched a website that focuses on “all things LUX,” and its flourishing. She discusses why she created the site, how the industry has to adapt and how she found her niche.Macala Wright: Elizabeth, why did you create LadyLUX?Elizabeth Wahler: As a trained cultural anthropologist, I’ve always had a deep love of systems, people, and origins. However, I was not called to work in the world of applied science. My first word was “pretty,” so I think it was obvious from an early age that I naturally gravitated to things of the aesthetic and artistic persuasion.I wanted to create a magazine for the love of people and the betterment of humanity, and with these two things in mind, LadyLUX was born. She is your best friend online, she tells you what’s relevant in our world, and she brings you what’s good. She brings her deep sense of living openly and transparently to the web so that others may experience and participate in the thought provoking dialogue promoting healthy and congruent living.I started LadyLUX because I want to see a ripple effect take hold in the world; everything starts with the self. Healthier, happier, and more congruent individuals means healthier and happier families. And hopefully, that can translate into healthy communities. I’m not hoping for Utopia, just a realistic version of health.I can mill over photos, designer line sheets, uncut raw gemstones, vintage finds, and couture for hours on end. My eye is trained to seek out what is pleasing, what is good—I can immediately spot a flaw and determine if it truly is a “flaw” or merely a “beauty mark” that will add character and perspective to whatever it is I’m working on.MW: In the ever-cluttered blogosphere, you’ve launched a digital luxury lifestyle publication with a very unique mission – to cut through the clutter and to find what “Good for the Sake of Good.” Tell us about it.EW: Well, you said it. As a researcher at heart and someone who hails from the world of luxury publishing, I was tired of crawling through the clutter and never really sure of the validity or accuracy of my sources for starters. Let’s face it – I’m a Type A freak when it comes to buttoning things up.My mantra is, LadyLUX is in the details. I live and breathe this daily. There is never any compromising with this—it’s a part of my DNA. I want research perfection from our articles, design aesthetics, and from the exciting new projects were baking. And when it comes to “Good for the Sake of Good,” well, that too is a part of my DNA.Life should always be about reciprocity, serving, and giving. That is LUX.MW: LadyLUX covers travel trends, lifestyle topics, eco initiatives, luxury fashion and emerging trends – but from a technological stand point. Tell us the driving force behind your editorial – your articles always show the correlation between technology and luxury.EW: I’m an avid reader. We future cast seasons, cultural zeitgeist, and of course we do have a bit of editorial secret sauce, though that’s just not something I share with anyone. However, as far as the technology and luxury correlation goes, there’s not a huge strategy here.I’m a tech geek at heart, so it’s an easy and organic thread for us to trend on technology and what’s fresh. I find myself deep in the tech blogs, attending events like CTIA, Luxury Interactive, TechCrunch, and AdTech. Some days I find myself more at home in that space than attending runway events. I am taking two things I love – “luxury” and “technology” – and merging them into a space and niche where they both naturally fit.MW: My favorite part of the site is the “Looking Glass,” tell us more about your inspirations for Looking Glass.EW: Life is about mastering yourself. It’s the ultimate reward.Like it states above, the entrance of the temple of Apollo at Delphi, “know thyself.” We as people are like the tides — constantly changing. Thus, there’s always “work” to be done. Focusing on issues with no real purpose that only serve the ego just cause chaos and clutter in our lives. Much more traction & universal growth comes from the battle within.I want people to come to the Looking Glass and identify with the honesty that is being shared there. Whether they chose to participate or not, is irrelevant. I want the readers to know they have a place where someone is putting out there for them to be able to have their “A-ha” moment, moment of gratitude, or self-reflection.It has been my commitment to myself, my life, and LadyLUX, to live consciously and with great awareness, and to free my life of unnecessary burdens so I can give back and create the most amount of good.For more online retail marketing strategies, visit FashionablyMarketing.Me